Frankenstein to Star Trek: Sci-Fi Museum Coming to D.C.

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Fans of Captain Kirk and Captain Nemo unite: A new
science-fiction museum coming to Washington, D.C.

Its creators announced plans for the museum, which will cover a
broad sampling of science
fiction across literature, television, film, music, video
games and art, on Nov. 4. They hope to open a preview space
within a year, and launch the full museum in the beginning of
2017.

"There really wasn't a comprehensive science-fiction museum here
in the United States or internationally," said Greg Viggiano,
executive director of the new venture. "I thought, maybe somebody
should do something about this," Viggiano told LiveScience.

The museum will showcase seven distinct galleries, featuring the
creators, vehicles, time travel concepts, aliens, computers,
robots and technology. The content will start with Frankenstein
author Mary Shelley, considered by many the first sci-fi author,
and run through to present-day material. "We're going to try to
cover sci-fi in a pretty comprehensive manner," Viggiano said.
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Several collectors have already offered to loan their materials
to the museum. These include models of the Enterprise E used in
"Star Trek: Insurrection," and Amargosa Observatory and Deep
Space 9 in earlier " Star
Trek " films. Another collector has offered to loan their
collection of " Battlestar
Galactica " filming miniatures.

The museum has forged a partnership to store hundreds of
interviews with sci-fi greats, from
Ray Bradbury to Arthur C. Clarke.

As for Viggiano himself, he likes the classics — Jules Verne's
"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (and the Disney version),
and "Return to the Forbidden Planet," so expect those to make an
appearance.

The group has received significant interest already, Viggiano
said. "The volunteer response has been overwhelming," and
includes people with professional museum experience, he said.

The museum will be funded by private donors and through a
crowd-funding campaign on the website IndieGoGo.com. The group
had raised $23,914 on the site as of Nov. 19, and hopes to raise
$160,000 by Dec. 11.

A big part of the museum's mission is to boost STEM (science
technology engineering and mathematics) education, Viggiano said.
Many of the exhibits will be interactive, geared toward both kids
and kids-at-heart.